What is the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA)?

The Family Medical Leave Act is a federal statute that allows employees to take a certain amount of leave time for very important events such as, for example, the birth of a child or to care for a very close family member. To fall within that statute, the employee has to work for a certain number of hours in a certain period of time for the employer. The leave is set out by statute as to the amount of time the employee can take.